Abstract
This study examined the influence of working memory on perceptual processing. Each trial began with the presentation of a coloured square. Participants held the colour of the square in memory for a later memory task, and performed a visual search task during the retention interval. Perceptual difficulty on the search task was manipulated via a set size manipulation (2, 4, or 6 letters). Each letter on the search task was a different colour. The colour of the memory square was the same as the target letter, the same as one of the distractor letters, or different from all of the search letters. There was a benefit on the search task when the target letter was the same colour with this benefit increasing with set size. There, also was a cost on the search task when one of the distractor letters was the same colour with this cost remaining constant across set size. We conclude that perception can be biased towards objects that possess a perceptual feature that is consistent with the contents of working memory.